Sunday, July 5, 2015

Everything's A-OK

It's been a day. We moved all of Blair's stuff home from college in two packed out vehicles. I rode home surrounded by a large and varied assortment of potential deadly projectiles. There was an ironing board behind my head, who dared me to slam on my brakes.

She has a 3 week layover between one apartment and the next, which means all of her things are now at our house.......our recently purged house, I might add. All of my glorious, cleared out space is occupied...once again. While I'm glad to have her home, this hospitable feeling does not extend to all of her college things. I'm coping by rocking back and forth in a fetal position and trying to think about a happy place.........so let's talk about Sesame Street. ﻿

I know you've heard by now. Maria is leaving Sesame Street after 44 years. She came on the scene about the time I started watching the show.

Wait, WHAT?!??!

It's got me wondering how you write someone's exit in a kids' show after so many years. It's not like they can take her out like Dr. McDreamy.....all bloody and run over by a car and it would be unseemly to have her leave Luis and run off with Bob to Vegas, but I digress.

Classic Sesame Street was a huge part of my childhood. Every day at 4:00, you'd find me mesmerized with my mouth hanging open, sitting in front of the old Zenith TV.......but not too close, because that would cause blindness according the mothers of the 70's.

In honor of Maria's retirement from the Fix-It Shop on Sesame Street, I thought I'd post my Top 10 Sesame Street memories. Here they are, in no particular order, because, well, it's impossible to rank such works of genius.

1) Who didn't like the ball roller coaster? I always wished I could get my hands on one of these. Sometimes, the ball ended up on the top of ice cream and what have you, but this was my favorite...

2) I don't know why, but this is burned into my gray matter forever. One day, when I'm sitting in a nursing home with no idea of who or where I am, I can almost guarantee that I'll still be able to sing this one. Good luck getting this out of your head today. You'll be hating me by afternoon.

3) I was a big fan of Guy Smiley and his game show, Beat the Clock. I guess he was the muppet version of Bob Barker. I loved how he always had trouble coming out from behind the curtain. And I was a HUGE, hardcore Count fan, so when he was the contestant, it was my favorite.

5) Grover was a close second to the Count as far as my favorite Sesame characters go. Grover, the waiter........oh, my word.....the best.

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6) You couldn't help but love Ernie and Bert. Bert reminds me of Davis when it's past his bedtime.

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7) There were lots of kids on Sesame Street during the years that I watched, but John John is the only one I still remember. Wonder where he is now? Hope he faired better than the average child star. ﻿

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8) Watching this one takes me right back to 1973 in my saddle oxfords. I attribute my ability to count to 12 without bobbling to this......

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9) "They're the people that you meet when you're walking down the street. They're the people that you meet each daaaaaaaaaaay." Again, when you find yourself humming this at your desk......You're welcome.

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10) Ok, I loved "One of these things is not like the others". You'd be screaming at the TV, "that one on the bottom" until they finally lit up the correct answer at the end of the song. This exercise is probably responsible for my relentless attention to details and slight bent toward OCD.

﻿11) Ok, I can't stop myself! "Hi-Ho, Kermit the Frog here".....Back when news journalists were trustworthy and reported all the facts and nothing but the facts. Note Kermit did not claim to put Humpty back together again, Brian.

12) Last one. I promise. He's just my fave! It's a wonder I didn't grow to be a mathematician or accountant or something. Twelve......twelve Sesame Street clips.....ah, ah, ah, ah! (cue the thunder and lightning)

6 comments:

Oh Joni! Love this post! My daughter grew up watching Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow, Barney, Wishbone, and I can go on. Fun and educational at the same time. Public Television all the way. Have a "countful" day, Kathleen in Az

No Cookie Monster love??? I'm still known to bust out singing "C is for Cookie" every now and then, lol. I grew up watching and loving Sesame Street too. As soon as I saw the screenshot for #8, I immediately started singing to 12 and added the woo-oo after! Thanks for compiling all of the clips. It was a fun walk down memory lane.

Tried as I might, I just couldn't get my own kids to love Sesame Street as deeply as I did. I think there were just too many options by the time the mid-nineties rolled around. But it was "required" viewing to a certain degree and Slimey and Oscar were crowd favorites, as well as Telly and of course, Mr. Noodle. Great post!

I have the same story! I adored Sesame Street and my kids could take it or leave it. You're right....for us, it was that or nothing and our kids had VHS tapes and several cartoon channels. Glad we have those good memories, at least!

Thank you for this post!! It's good to know that I have a kindred spirit out there with my love for the count. You got a lot of my favorites - especially the 12 counting video. Who knows why that one stuck with me. It's not particularly special when you watch it but it just tickles me. love your blog!